N-W hockey team falls to Saratoga

Niagara-Wheatfield's quest to win the New
York State Public High School Athletic Association ice hockey championships was
stopped by Saratoga on Saturday in Utica.

Final score in the state semifinal game
was 4-1. The Saratoga Blue Streaks, with 12 seniors on the team, went on to win
the championship game on Sunday by a 5-0 score against the McQuaid Jesuit
Knights.

"With 15 new kids, to get as far as we did
says a lot about them," said Coach Rick Wrazin, whose team only has seven
seniors.

"Obviously, we are very proud of our
team," he said. "They ran into a very, very good team, and we played a little
nervous."

N-W's only goal was scored by senior Mike
Parisi.

He had been sick all week. He came up
Saturday morning (to join the rest of the Falcons team) and played very well,"
Wrazin said.

Two juniors had scoring honors for the
season. Anthony Vekich had 35 points, one point ahead of Justin Durkee with 34
points.